As every healthcare geek and Supreme Court wonk will tell you, on March 4, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in King v. Burwell (an amalgamation of four cases – King v. Burwell, Halbig v. Burwell, Pruitt v....more

This week, the IRS announces relief for some taxpayers who received excess advanced premium tax credits; Indiana and Arkansas make major announcements on Medicaid expansion and Iowa’s Governor announces a shift towards...more

On December 30, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule that would revise Affordable...more

This week, a federal Issuer Bulletin describes how issuers in the Federally Facilitated Marketplace will identify their existing enrollees who are switching plans for 2015 coverage. The Exchange Board in New Mexico proposes a...more

With the conclusion of the midterm elections last week and open enrollment just around the corner, this week’s news highlights both renewed pledges from the opposition and a flurry of implementation activity in the states....more

On November 7, the Supreme Court announced it would hear its second significant legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). King v. Burwell, expected to be heard this spring and ruled on by the end of June, is a direct...more

New IRS guidance adds two more events that allow participants to change their cafeteria plan elections outside of the annual open enrollment period. These events are designed to coordinate with the employer coverage rules and...more

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would review the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit’s decision in King v. Burwell. In that case, the Fourth Circuit held that tax credits for health insurance...more

Are the federal government’s subsidies to purchasers of health insurance available only to those who purchase insurance from state-run exchanges or to those who purchase from federal health care exchanges as well? Was the...more

In Notice 2014-55, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced two new situations in which employees may change their health plan elections midyear under their employer’s cafeteria plan. In the first, an employee’s hours...more

Two federal appeals courts issued contradictory rulings on the validity of subsidies for the purchase of health insurance under the federal marketplace established pursuant to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). On July 22, a...more

On July 22, 2014, two federal appellate courts issued conflicting decisions, within hours of each other, regarding the IRS final rule published on May 23, 2012 (the “IRS Rule”), intended to implement the exchange-related tax...more

At issue in Halbig v. Burwell and King v. Burwell is whether or not subsidies to buy insurance on an exchange are available in both state and federal exchanges. On its face the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) provides for...more

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled, in a 2-to-1 decision, in Halbig v. Burwell that the IRS is not authorized under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to provide tax credits intended to subsidize the cost of...more

On July 22, 2014, two different federal appeals courts issued conflicting decisions on the availability of subsidies for health insurance purchased by individuals on Exchanges established by the federal government under the...more

On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in a 2-1 ruling by a three judge panel, invalidated an Internal Revenue Service regulation that interpreted section 36B of the Affordable Care Act...more

Yesterday, a divided three judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit struck down the IRS regulation allowing federal premium subsidies for individuals buying health insurance at...more

It was the best of times for ACA subsidies, it was the worst of times for ACA subsidies. On Tuesday, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) and the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (“Fourth...more

Yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled the IRS’ interpretation of a key ACA provision is invalid. Specifically, the court found that the IRS did not have the authority to interpret...more

The IRS recently issued two new Q&As to underscore that arrangements allowing employers to reimburse employees on a pre-tax basis for premiums used to purchase individual health coverage, either inside or outside of a public...more

To coordinate information about the new marketplace/exchange coverage that may be available under the Affordable Care Act, today the U.S. Department of Labor, in conjunction with the IRS and U.S. Department of Health and...more

A D.C. district court judge ruled that a case can proceed challenging the IRS rule allowing individuals who purchase insurance on exchanges established by the Federal government (and not by a State) to be eligible for premium...more

In addition to imposing substantive requirements on health insurance issuers in the group and individual markets and employer-sponsored group health plans, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Act) imposes three...more

CMS and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued two proposed rules on January 30, 2013 setting forth the exemptions an individual may satisfy to avoid financial penalties associated with the Patient Protection and...more